Mansi is the Program Director at the STEP Foundation (Skilling, Training & Employability for Prosperity). She leads the Foundation's efforts to address structural gaps in India's skilling and employability ecosystem by advancing integrated data architectures, strengthening institutional capacity, shaping public policy, and mobilising capital to improve labour market alignment and create clearer pathways to quality employment.
With over a decade of leadership experience across education, ed-tech, and workforce development, Mansi has built and scaled impactful initiatives across the social sector. As the Co-founder and CEO of UpSkill, she spent eight years creating grassroots skilling and employment pathways for underserved youth, training over 7,000 individuals across 11 vocational trades with a 78% placement retention rate. She also led the development of a SaaS-based mobilisation platform that reached more than 200,000 young people nationwide.
She later served as Vice President – Social Impact at BYJU'S, where she established the company's flagship Education For All initiative from the ground up. The programme reached over 5.5 million children across 400+ districts and improved learning outcomes by 6.5% within its first year. She subsequently led Growth & Partnerships at Educational Initiatives (Ei), managing large-scale government ed-tech partnerships across multiple Indian states.
Mansi holds a degree in Sustainable Design from Carnegie Mellon University and a Certificate in Sustainable Business Strategy from Harvard Business School.
Based in Jaipur, she is passionate about preserving architectural and cultural heritage through her voluntary work and is an avid runner who has completed several ultra-marathons.
Devanshi is the Associate Director at the STEP Foundation, where she leads state initiatives focused on strengthening skilling ecosystems and driving workforce development. Before joining STEP, she worked across the social impact, skilling, and ed-tech sectors, designing and scaling large national programmes, leading product strategy and operations, and building technology-enabled solutions for the skilling ecosystem.
Devanshi holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics and an MBA in Rural Management from the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA). She began her career with the Ministry of Rural Development, where she worked to strengthen Self-Help Groups, promote financial inclusion, and improve livelihood opportunities for rural women.
She later joined an early-stage skilling startup as part of the founding team, where she played a key role in building a SaaS platform for the skill development ecosystem. She subsequently held leadership roles at leading ed-tech companies, including Unacademy and BYJU'S, driving product strategy, learner growth, and large-scale education initiatives across India.
Alongside her work in the social sector, Devanshi is also an entrepreneur who has independently built a portfolio of hospitality ventures, including a restaurant, a café, and a boutique hotel.
Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her dogs, exploring national parks and wildlife reserves, discovering new cuisines, and watching crime thrillers.
Sanjana is a Program Lead at the STEP Foundation, based in New Delhi. She brings over six years of experience working at the intersection of social impact, philanthropic strategy, and investment, partnering with governments, foundations, and nonprofits to design and scale high-impact programmes across India and the Global South.
Before joining the STEP Foundation, Sanjana worked with the Rockefeller Foundation, VestedWorld, and Sattva Consulting, where she led initiatives across education, food systems, and energy. Her work included a five-year programme with one of India's leading education nonprofits that enabled 1.6 million out-of-school girls to re-enroll in school, as well as developing philanthropic investment strategies overseeing an active portfolio of $45 million.
She began her career as a Teach For India Fellow, where her classroom was ranked #1 among more than 400 classrooms across seven cities.
Sanjana holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, and a BA in Economics from Miranda House, University of Delhi.
Outside of work, she is a trained classical pianist and enjoys playing badminton, pickleball, and spending time playing fetch with her dogs.
Ridhi is a Program Lead at STEP Foundation in Delhi, where she is building labour market intelligence initiatives to strengthen India’s skilling ecosystem. Her work sits at the intersection of strategy, data, and policy advocacy.
She began her career in the audit practice at Deloitte before moving into management consulting at EY and Accenture, where she led strategy and execution projects across industries.
Ridhi holds an MBA from the Indian School of Business and a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi. She is also fluent in Mandarin, having earned an Advanced Diploma from National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU).
She is deeply interested in solving employment and skilling challenges at scale through data-first and AI-led approaches.
Outside of work, she is usually planning her next trip (often to Taiwan) or watching K-dramas and C-dramas with remarkable dedication.
Anshika Mittal is a Program Associate at the STEP Foundation, working at the intersection of government, industry, and academia. She is currently collaborating with the Ministry of Skill Development to help shape the policy framework for a new government scheme while also bringing a data-driven perspective to the Uttar Pradesh pilot.
She brings an eclectic professional background spanning the corporate sector, academia, think tanks, and nonprofits. Prior to joining the STEP Foundation, Anshika was part of the Growth Operations team at Genpact, where she led projects for high-profile clients including Endeavour Group, Ralph Lauren, and Santander Bank.
Anshika holds a Master's degree in Economics from Ashoka University and a Bachelor's degree in Statistics from Ramjas College, University of Delhi. She has a keen interest in econometrics and enjoys applying empirical rigor to real-world policy challenges.
Outside of work, she enjoys playing a variety of sports, including badminton, tennis, and long-distance running. She is also always up for an engaging discussion on economic trends and public policy.
Sahil Philip is a Program Manager at the STEP Foundation, based in New Delhi. He brings over three years of experience working across grassroots implementation, philanthropic strategy, and government digital infrastructure, partnering with communities, funders, and ministries to strengthen public systems across India.
Before joining the STEP Foundation, Sahil worked with the National Health Authority, where he co-designed India's first State Digital Health Adoption Index. Prior to this, he worked with Dasra's ClimateRISE Alliance, helping build a philanthropic coalition of more than 30 partner organizations focused on climate action.
He also worked with The Antara Foundation in rural Madhya Pradesh, where he designed the Suposhan Panchayat model—a community-led intervention for malnutrition management that was later scaled across three additional districts as a flagship programme.
Sahil holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Liberal Arts from Ashoka University and a BA in Global Affairs from O.P. Jindal Global University.
Outside of work, Sahil is a passionate football fan, a chess player of middling ability, an amateur winemaker, and someone who continues to lose money in the stock market with remarkable consistency.
Omair Shahid is the State Lead for the Kaushal Connect Cell PMU at Invest UP, based in Lucknow. He works at the intersection of industry engagement, government partnerships, workforce development, and demand-led talent pipeline creation to support industrial growth and job creation.
Before joining the STEP Foundation, Omair worked in the social sector with The/Nudge Institute and spent several years across Amazon, Adobe, and startups, contributing to strategy, operations, and process improvement initiatives. He brings extensive experience in building and scaling programmes and systems from the ground up.
Omair holds an M.Tech. in Remote Sensing from Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU).
Outside of work, he enjoys exploring culinary traditions and building birdhouses.
Shivam Singh is a Program Manager at the STEP Foundation, based at Invest UP in Lucknow. He brings over three years of experience in technology-driven environments, with a focus on delivering high-quality software products through cross-functional collaboration, Agile methodologies, and a deep understanding of user needs.
Before joining the STEP Foundation, Shivam worked as a Product Manager at GudStory Media, where he led product development initiatives across multiple verticals. He authored detailed Product Requirement Documents (PRDs) and drove a 35% improvement in customer satisfaction by delivering features aligned with user research and business objectives.
He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology from Chandigarh University.
Outside of work, Shivam is a passionate cricket fan and enjoys travelling.
Ankur Goswami is a Program Manager with the Kaushal Connect Cell PMU at Invest UP, based in Lucknow. With over five years of experience, he has worked on multi-stakeholder projects involving government departments, parliamentarians, industry bodies, and local institutions, focusing on public service delivery, climate adaptation, and development planning. He is driven by the belief that public policy can be a powerful instrument for building a more sustainable and equitable society.
Ankur holds an M.Phil. in Sociology from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and a Master's degree in Sociology from the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. He has a strong interest in the intersection of public institutions and societal change and is the co-author of Bhagat Singh Ke Saathi, a book on Indian revolutionaries.
Beyond his professional pursuits, Ankur enjoys cooking, travelling, and exploring history and culture. He is fascinated by the stories, ideas, and institutions that shape people and places over time.
Juhi Daga is a Senior Program Manager at the STEP Foundation and is part of its founding team. She leads the organisation's experience-based learning vertical and brings nearly five years of experience spanning management consulting and venture philanthropy.
Before joining STEP, Juhi worked at the Convergence Foundation, where she partnered with organisations in the higher education sector before transitioning to full-time work in skilling and eventually helping incubate the STEP Foundation. Prior to that, she spent three years as a consultant at McKinsey & Company, where she developed a strong analytical foundation and a rigorous consulting approach that continues to shape her work today.
Across these roles, Juhi has worked across geographies and sectors, contributing to projects focused on workforce and the future of work, global investment flows, and AI-led transformation.
At STEP, Juhi focuses on strengthening employment pathways through apprenticeships. She builds analytical models to support apprenticeship uptake across India, works closely with government departments, and helps shape strategy for national and state apprenticeship programmes.
Juhi holds a B.A. (Hons.) in Economics from the University of Delhi.
Outside of work, she is an outdoor sports enthusiast and a self-confessed fan of corporate thrillers.
Tushar Malhotra is a Program Manager at The STEP Foundation, based in New Delhi. He works on scheme design and government stakeholder engagement with the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), and also contributes to The Livelihood Collective's work transforming government ITIs into employment engines. He is a skilling practitioner at his core, having spent the early years of his career teaching in a government school and building vocational education and employment pathways on the ground.
Over the past six years, Tushar has worked across classrooms, curriculum design, and government fellowships to strengthen India's skilling and education systems. He began as a Teach For India Fellow, before moving to Lend A Hand India, where he co-designed vocational education curricula with NCERT across 12 states, built employer partnerships and skill labs, and contributed to the Delhi government's Schools of Specialised Excellence (SoSE) programme. He then took up a fellowship with the International Innovation Corps, contributing to Regen-Ag supply chain, SOPs, and technology vendor support for Andhra Pradesh's SMART Kitchen initiative under the PM POSHAN school meal scheme, and supporting dataset release for the IndiaAI Mission's AI Kosh platform.
Outside of work, Tushar is an unapologetic productivity nerd, forever tinkering with Excel sheets, AI tools, and systems to make everyday work a little smoother. He teaches personal finance on the side, and stays active through endurance sports.